Houston D. Davis

President Houston D. Davis is the 11th president of the University of Central Arkansas.

During his time at UCA, Davis has overseen tremendous growth and progress. For fall 2024, UCA welcomed one of its largest incoming freshman classes with 2,183 students, marking a 26% increase in incoming students from fall 2023. The incoming freshman class represented the largest year-to-year increase in at least 25 years with 446 more students over the previous year. This cohort of 2,183 was the second-largest incoming freshman class among all Arkansas four-year universities for the ninth consecutive fall. Overall enrollment for fall 2024 at UCA’s student population returned to more than 10,000 representing a 3.4% gain from the previous year.

Under Davis’s leadership, UCA received the largest gift in university history in 2019, a $20 million gift from the Windgate Foundation to create the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts. The Windgate Center officially opened with a seal-breaking ceremony in September 2023.

Davis spearheaded the university’s first comprehensive capital campaign with a goal of $100 million, UCA Now. The eight-year campaign ended ten months ahead of schedule and raised more than $109 million. UCA’s fundraising efforts have continued to surpass goals with the fiscal year of 2024 closing with almost $16 million raised, making it the seventh consecutive year the university has surpassed its fundraising goal and raised more than $10 million.

In September 2023, Davis announced the launch of a new initiative that provides incoming students from Arkansas with a debt-free pathway to a college education. Named UCA Commitment, the program officially launched in fall 2024 and is available as an opt-in financial tool for incoming Arkansas freshmen from households with incomes of no more than $100,000.

Active in college athletic leadership, Davis serves on the NCAA Board of Governors, on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, on the Division I Finance Committee serving as chair of the group, and on the NCAA Division I Administrative Committee. In addition, he serves on the presidents’ councils for the Atlantic Sun Conference and the United Athletic Conference.

Prior to becoming president of UCA in 2017, Davis was interim president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, where he served from May to November 2016. He previously served as the executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the University System of Georgia. Davis also previously served as the vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and functioned as the state’s liaison to the national Complete College America initiative. Prior to 2007, he served as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Tennessee Board of Regents, on faculty and in academic leadership for Austin Peay State University, in fiscal and academic affairs for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, and as a regional counselor for the University of Memphis.

In addition to his past professional duties, he served in the role of director for the National Educational Needs Index project, a Lumina-funded initiative measuring educational, economic, and population pressures in the 50 states that influence policy and planning at local, regional, and national levels.

Davis is also involved in research projects and leadership in higher education governance, economic development, and accountability issues, and serves on several national advisory groups on higher education policy, degree completion, collegiate athletics, academic preparation, and accountability. Related to that work, he serves as the chair of the Arkansas Presidents & Chancellors Council and chair of the Arkansas Funding Formula Committee. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in education and human development at Vanderbilt University and his Master of Education in educational administration at Tennessee State University. Davis earned his Bachelor of Science in political science at the University of Memphis.